"As is your use of "Zionists", by which you seem to mean the Jews then settled in [then] Palestine; "
No I mean (or I assume the article meant) extreme Zionism.
I knew Jewish families in Manchester who were far from Zionist in their outlook - Jews yes, but of all political and religious shades
- some even communists based on their experiences at the hands of the right (my father once said that there would never have been a Communist Party if it hadn't been for lapsed Catholics and disillusioned Jews).
It was in that period I saw the shift from unquestioning support of Israel to an opposition to what was happening there.
One of the most memorable people I ever met was Les Parrington, who ran a bookshop in Liverpool.
He had moved Germany to Israel, gone on to South Africa, from where he was expelled for his political activities, and ended up running a left-wing bookshop at the top of Mount Pleasant - a lovely, gentle man who taught me much about humanity - probably long dead.
Many of my father fellow-prisoners in Spain where Jewish - I was privileged to meet some of them at his funeral where they tuned up in droves.
I am aware of the part Zionism played in setting up the state, just as I am aware how it has become a weapon of oppression now - no different from any religious body who has abandoned its ideals..
Jim Carroll